Talk:A-12 OXCART

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Is there any chance of getting a more appropriate image for this article. I think if there is going to be only one image on the page one of the actual plane would be more appropriate, rather than an image of a one-off, rare, training variant. Gfad1 12:24, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)

         I agree. The trainer bears a closer (albeit superficial) resemblance to the SR. 
         Let me see what I can scrounge up. ALC

Who flew these aircraft? USAF pilots? CIA pilots? USAF pilots detached/lended to CIA? David.Monniaux 22:00, 16 July 2005 (UTC)

         Different personnel at different times, but by in large these were operated as CIA 
         assets with company pilots. ALC

Shouldn't we be using the Cygnus popular name for the A-12, instead of Oxcart? This was the final popular name for the plane, and the name on the flight suit patch. ALC

[edit] which is faster?

I thought the SR-71 was the fastest. Maybe it was maid faster later? --Gbleem 20:10, 20 December 2005 (UTC)

The SR-71 has the official record though as they are basically the same plane their top speeds are likely to be very similar. Exact details of these planes are difficult to verify but as the SR-71 was the later of the 2 planes it is likely that it had the benefit of greater development of the engines etc, e.g. computerised control of the shock cones to prevent and/or recover from unstarts. It would seem that the limiting factor on the top speed of these aircraft would have been intake compressor temperature. The known designs for these aircraft's intakes would have overheated at about mach 3.44, though there are suggestions that the SR-71 exceeded even this speed breifly on occassions. It should be noted that the SR-71's officially measured 'top' speed is very close to its transatlantic speed record. Although this is mainly a factor of the plane having a single design speed it also suggests that it might just have had a bit more to give - we will likely as not never know for sure. Who is to say that a pilot would have the same incentive to risk engine destruction to set an academic record as he would have had when missiles were being fired at him?

Thanks for the info. Please review my changes to the article. --Gbleem 20:44, 21 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] How to tell them apart

The text below was removed in July 2005. However, I believe it is useful information especially for laymen because it points out the external differences of the three different kinds of planes. I restored it here to help the laymen to tell these planes apart.

There are three distinctive types of airplane that are all called Blackbirds by the laymen. These three airplanes were designed for different branches of the government, with different mission/operation objectives, design parameters and flight characteristics. Due to the secrecy surrounding these airplanes during their operating years, the military never stepped forward to clarify any confusion regarding these airplanes. These airplanes can be easily distinquished from one another by several very obvious external features:

An A-12 two seater trainer

• The A-12 is a one seater CIA spy airplane. The single seat cockpit is a telltale sign, with the exception of the one-of-a-kind trainer version shown on the right.
• The SR-71 is a two seater USAF spy airplane. The two seater cockpit is a telltale sign.
• The YF-12 is a Air Force fighter interceptor. The cone shaped nose is a telltale sign.

The three airplanes A-12, SR-71 and YF-12 were designed with different capabilities for different missions. Press release photos from the government sometimes mixed up the pictures. It is unknown if the mix up was intentional or not because these projects were secret and unclassified pictures were hard to come by.

[edit] Why did the A-12 retire?

This article is lacking on why the A-12 was retired. All I see are some ambiguous references to the SR-71 replacing it. -71.49.163.77 22:48, 23 August 2006 (UTC)